Frozen Soul, and other works: Chapter 204

(Fleet Command Cluster, IAS Aclotloxl’s Claw, in orbit of Isuibos 3)

“Warleader, the Builder Caste from the shipyards have confirmed that it will be six months before we can finish the repairs from the Second Battle of Coldana. Replacement ships for those lost in the battle will be added to the fleet as they are built.”

Keh Dhaka nodded absentmindedly as she read over the reports her aide handed her. They were in line with her own projections, based on the build speed that had been reported to her before. While it was refreshing to know that her personal projections were not off the mark, that information added nothing to the mental calculus needed to maintain a fleet at readiness for the event of war breaking out, or some other threat presenting itself.

The battle in space had been brutal, and would likely have been the death of all of them, had the Black Stars not brought their scouts with their X’thari drives. The Second Great Armada of the Ihm Imperium had gone into the battle expecting to die to the last. It would have been an end worth tales of valor in the halls of power, but an end all the same. While she was not afraid of such a death (indeed, it was the kind of death and the kind of cause that anyone who joined the Navy wished for, if the Ancestors decreed that they were to die in battle), but that did not mean she was rushing to meet her Ancestors just yet. Nor would she send those under her command to theirs without need.

Once the X’thari swarm had broken, though, Battlemaster Jamaoak Zoxl of the Third Legion had asked… no, ‘asked’ was too soft a word. He had demanded that the warriors of his Legion be allowed to descend to the surface of Coldana, and aid in the cleaning out of the X’thari. The Warriors faced as much risk of death on ship as any of her crews, but they were of no use in space unless there were boarding actions to be done. Allowing them to descend to the planet, as the Consortium and Black Star forces had done, was a move that could have had political ramifications if done poorly. Technically, that could be considered an invasion of Consortium territory. It wasn’t something to just blindly rush into.

Fortunately, Admiral Jadegut, the ranking Consortium officer in the system after Ironbelt’s death, had been all too happy to accept the help of anyone who wished to send their troops to aid the survivors of Coldana. With the legal side covered, she had ordered the Third Legion and any other troops who wished to partake in rescuing the surviving enclaves. The Third Legion was not alone in joining the fight. The Terran Empire, Consortium, and Confederate ships sent their warriors down as well.

The Army troops the Consortium had landed were able to set up a beachhead at the main starport on the planet, which was drawing a large portion of the X’thari in their direction. However, the enclaves were still under assault. Out of thirty-seven enclaves that had been active before the Swarm invaded, only ten remained, and all were under assault. The Black Stars had relieved the two worst cases, their Marines landing directly in the midst of the X’thari and using ship to ship weapons to clear the landing zones!

Not to be outdone, the Third Legion dropped on the next three most at risk enclaves, the ones of Kurnbuldohr, Durndarum, and Bugaldur, all located far to the west of the capitol. Though the beachead in the capitol would draw off much of the X’thari, Kurnbuldohr and Durndarum were on the other side of the continent, while Bugaldur was on an isolated island off the coast, and the reduction in numbers was… slight, if it was noticed at all. Those three enclaves also had significant defenses, which is why they had held out for so long in isolation. The Battlemaster had crushed the X’thari against the walls of the enclaves like a hammer to the anvil. The other surviving enclaves had also been rescued, either by the other forces, or by enough X’thari being drawn off by the Army at the spaceport. After that, all that was left was just mopping up. A most satisfactory end to the campaign.

The aide continued, not knowing her mistress’s thoughts. “The Third Legion suffered casualties numbering twenty-six percent of their number, with a further five percent killed in the assault. The injured have been recovered, and the Warrior caste has already sent new recruits to the legion to replenish their numbers. The Battlemaster reports combat readiness of 97%, due to the need to repair and replace some of their vehicles which were lost or damaged in the action. Given the overall status of the Legion, it has been put on a lower priority with the Builders than restoring the Second Armada to full function.”

“And what about my request to the War Council? Have they approved it yet?”

The aide’s tail flicked, and her head drooped slightly. “The High Warleaders are not convinced of the need for new ship classes at this time. The fact that you wished to purchase ships from outside the Imperium rather than designs made within our borders weighed against the proposal, I’m afraid.”

Dhaka felt like she was about to scream. Those arrogant fools! The Battle of Second Coldana proved that, while the Imperium could still match forces against the conventional navies and come out on par or ahead of them in strength on a ship for ship level, there were new parties that had adapted to exploit vulnerabilities in existing battle doctrine, and explore new tactics and weapons that no one had considered to this point! And the Empire and the Confederacy were already adding these weapons to their forces! The Consortium and the Kul’tirans were certainly going to be not too far behind, as well. And which way the Kul’tirans went, the rest of the Free Worlds Alliance would go, in time. At this rate, the Imperium would be left behind!

With effort, she forced her temper back under control. If the softscaled fools weren’t willing to even consider the future, she would have to take matters into her own claws. The Imperium would either move forward with the rest of the galaxy, or it would stagnate. If it chose stagnation, it would do so without her!

Suddenly, it was like a weight was lifted from her. She had contacts outside the Imperium, contacts that had only grown stronger, after the battle. She had the respect of other officers, even if the High Warleaders on the War Council thought of her as a brash upstart. Even in the Warrior caste, she was respected, and her dealing with Zoxl had only increased her reputation with the Warriors.

Looking to her terminal, she quickly began composing a message. It would be perhaps the most important message of her career, if not her life. But it had to be done. For the good of the Imperium.

To: His Radiant Majesty, Emperess Drez Dhiss Ihm VII

CC: War Council of the Ihm Imperium, Imperial News Network

Subject: Recommendations for Armada Improvements

Your Radiant Majesty, Ruler Over All,

I, Warleader Keh Dhaka, commander of the Second Great Armada of the Ihm Imperial Navy offer you my utmost respect and loyalty. May the suns never set upon your reign.

When the Gauz Consortium invoked the Treaty of Helbizore after the discovery of a X’thari Harvester in Known Space, it was with pride that I led the Second Armada into battle, alongside the other forces of Known Space, in order to destroy the Harvester. I say with no false humility that I expected this to be the last act of service I ever gave to the Imperium, as the Harvester and the Swarm that surrounded it was numerous beyond anything I had ever seen before, with enemy ships numbering in the hundreds of thousands. So great were the forces arrayed against us, that any sensible observer would have said that, at best, we would be able to force a ship through to die in a suicidal blast, taking out the Harvester, as was done last time one appeared in Known Space.

And yet, that is not what happened.

It began before we ever left port, the calls for the Treaty of Helbizore’s activation running like silverpaws through the fleet. The Consortium Navy unleashed Operation Firebringer, and twelve pilots whose bravery manifestly stands equal to any in the history of the Imperial Navy, running back all the way to Shone Ruk himself, used shuttles with deliberately sabotaged warp drives, launching themselves as superluminal weapons against the Swarm. Two of these shuttles struck true, hitting the Harvester, and wounding it.

Though they failed to destroy the Harvester, and the Consortium Navy was unable to destroy the swarm on their own, they fought on, to the last, and bought the citizens and militias of Coldana a chance to set up thirty-seven enclaves across the surface of their world. Thirty-seven enclaves they knew were doomed from the outset, but from which they hoped against hope that their deaths would mean something as a final act of defiance, bleeding the X’thari as much as possible, so that the fleets summoned by the Treaty would be able to avenge them. And, one by one, twenty-seven of those enclaves fell, the soldiers and civilians, even the children killed and consumed by the ravenous hordes. Ten, however, survived, thanks to the actions of the combined fleet.

In this combined fleet, there were representatives from five star nations and one mercenary company. This mercenary company was not bound by treaty to be there, and, in truth, the contract they were engaged under did not cover an event of this magnitude. And yet, they remained, and threw their numbers alongside ours. And it was well that they did so.

I speak, of course, about the Black Star Navy which has been talked about so much over the last two years, starting with their involvement in the Terran Empire’s Civil War between Empress Merida Vaughn and her Usurper brother. Much has been said of their ships, and their tactics, and how they might be combined with more conventional ships and weapons. But here in the Imperium the War Council did not listen to those who studied the reports, believing instead in their notion of our inherent superiority, scoffing at the idea that we might learn something new from those who were not within our borders.

I can tell you now that the Black Star designed ships present within the fleets sent by the Terran Imperial Navy and the Confederate Navy were responsible for many times their mass in ship kills amongst the X’thari, providing a substantial boost to the defense of the fleets drawing off the X’thari forces protecting the Harvester. I have seen first-hand what a Black Star ship can do when used alongside conventional warships, and I would be negligent in my duties if I did not stress to the utmost the power and utility of such an arrangement. It can be said without question that, if I had to choose between a squadron of Black Star designed cruisers and a squadron of superdreadnoughts designed here in the Imperium, I would be unable to declare a victor with all certainty, but the edge I would give to the Black Star designs, so long as they are using conventional weaponry. With the use of superluminal weapons, the superdreadnoughts would not even scratch the cruisers’ paint before they were reduced to debris.

This is just with a detachment of ships designed by Black Star. However, the Black Star Navy showed their mettle in the Battle of Second Coldana, using superluminal weapons to such great effect that the Harvester was, quite literally, erased from existence, a feat that no other naval force has ever matched. Beyond that overwhelming firepower, however, they displayed their capabilities in close combat when the closed to aid the forces that had drawn the majority of the Swarm’s attention, saving many lives in the process.

Without the Black Star Navy and the ships of their design, I am forced to conclude that the Battle of Second Coldana would have ended in abject failure, or, at best, the total destruction of the combined fleet, in return for the Harvester being disabled or destroyed. Their designs, from the unique material of their hulls to the unconventional weapon loadouts on their ships and fighters, are designed to be different from anything we have seen before, and, thus, support different tactics to be used. An entire fleet of Black Star Ships has the sensor profile of a squadron of frigates, at the best of times. When they get serious about stealth, the only reason we knew where they were in the chaos of the battle was because they told us their location.

Because of this, I feel that I would be remiss in my duty as an Officer of the Great Armada if I did not object to the War Council’s repeated dismissals of this new technology, and its implications should war ever break out between the Imperium and one of our neighbors. The Confederacy and the Empire have already begun adding these designs to their fleets. The Consortium will, no doubt, not be far behind, either using Black Star designs, or finding some means to copy those designs. We must do the same, or we shall be left behind, like savages using stone spears against soldiers with pulse rifles.

Therefore, in protest to the decisions of the High Warleaders of the War Council of the Ihm Imperium, I hereby offer my resignation as Warleader of the Second Great Armada, and from the Ihm Imperial Navy as a whole. The Navy has been my entire world for the better part of my life. However, I refuse to sit by and allow the Imperium to slid into stagnation and obsolescence merely to preserve my career as an Officer. If my career means the survival of the Imperium, then that is a sacrifice I willingly make.

Eternally your servant,

Warleader Keh Dhaka

Commander

Second Great Armada of the Ihm imperial Navy

Keh took a deep breath, and let it out slowly as she hit ‘send’. The die, as the humans would say, was cast. Now, there was nothing more for her to do than clear out her office, and leave her affairs in order for whoever would take her place as Warleader. She looked over to her aide, and said, “Have a transport come around. I wish to head home. I believe I have done all I can do for today.”

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